Man Goes `Beserk,` Subdued By Police

May 1, 1985|By Rich Pollack and David Gibson, Staff Writers

A man who went berserk Tuesday in a Boynton Beach area bank that he thought was a medical center, stopped breathing shortly after he was subdued by deputies and security guards and later died, sheriff`s officials said.

Sheriff`s officials said the 42-year-old Haitian, whose identity was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach about five hours after he was subdued.

The cause of death is under investigation, officials said.

The man, according to Sheriff`s Inspector Richard Sheets, walked into the Prime Bank at 3717 Boynton Beach Blvd. shortly after 2 p.m., accompanied by a friend.

``It appears he thought they were going into a family practice center,`` Sheets said, adding that the man apparently had been ill and was looking for a doctor`s office.

Officials at the bank said they had been told that the man fell off a ladder about a month ago.

``He was reacting very abnormally,`` Sheets said.

``He was definitely hurting,`` said Alice Brode, a manager`s representative at the bank. ``He looked around, totally (unaware of) what was going on. He took off his shoes and hat and laid down on the couch.``

``When the (his companion) told him this wasn`t a medical place, he went crazy. All hell broke out. It seems that after he got in here, he went berserk.``

Sheets said the man bit a salesman and knocked Brode down before running to the Quail Ridge development, across the street from the bank, where he was chased by guards.

The man then took off his clothing, Sheets said, and dove into a small pond.

He was pulled out and, after a struggle, restrained by the guards and two deputies, Sheets said.

``They had to restrain him by handcuffing him and putting leg restraints on him,`` Sheets said.

Sheets said the man was taken to a police car.

``At that time he started going limp,`` he said.

The man was treated immediately by paramedics who had come to help one of the assault victims, Sheets said.

Officials at the bank said they had difficulty determining what the man wanted because of a language barrier.